We first see
Miguel Prado's dead body lying alone on the lawn of a park.

Via time lapse, we see a jogger discover the body, and then the police
cars and wagons slowly arrive for the investigation.

As Dexter shoots
photos, Vince examines the corpse and remarks on skin removed from the
body's shoulder area (a little something extra by Dexter, planting the
assumption that the killing was the work of the Skinner).

Dexter looks
up to see Miguel's brother, Ramon, watching in anger from the sidelines.

They load the
body into the medical examiner's van. Dexter reaches out to touch Miguel,
and Ramon angrily stops him, then tells Dexter that he plans to find out
who killed him.

Q.
What is it actually in real life?

A. A public
park, but not in Miami.

Q.
Where can I find it in real life?

A. This scene
was shot at Colorado Lagoon Park,
at 5119 E. Colorado Street,
in Long Beach.

But the bit
of lawn where they find Miguel's body isn't near Colorado Street.

It's
a small jetty of grass, near the east end of the parking lot on the north
side of the lagoon. To reach it (without
walking all the way around the lake), enter via the park entrance on the
south side of 6th Street (about
a quarter of a mile east of Park Avenue).

(Check the maps
below for the exact location.)

The park is
as much an inland beach as a park, and the lagoon itself appears to be
an isolated extension of the same ocean inlet that forms Alamitos Bay,
the waters of the Alamitos marina, the Naples channels, and the waters
of the Marine stadium (although it's significantly northwest of those spots).

A site
about the lagoon says it is a "part of the greater Los Cerritos Wetlands"
that once covered most of this part of Long Beach.

The park is
located just south of the larger Recreation Park, and about a mile northwest
of Naples Island (where they filmed Lila
stealing wind chimes last year) and the Appian Way bridge (where they
filmed Doakes shooting a guy).

The general
area is about three or four miles east/northeast of the downtown/Shoreline
Village section of Long Beach.

( There is talk
of restoration efforts that might significantly change the layout of the
park, so there's a possibility that this grassy jetty might disappear at
some future date. But as of 2009, it shows no signs of vanishing any time
soon... )

Update:
it turns out that the Colorado Lagoon was seen again on "Dexter",
in the very same episode.

It's glimpsed
in the background of a very brief scene in which Dexter, searching for
Ramon Prado (after Miguel's murder), phones a former partner of Ramon's,
pretends to be a family friend, and talks him into giving him the names
of bars that Ramon used to frequent.

Part of the
Colorado lagoon and its beach, as well as a white bridge (over the Lagoon
to Appian Way), can be seen in the background, behind the partner, as he
talks to Dexter on the phone. The partner is standing about 75 yards west
from where Miguel's body was found in the park.

Thanks once
again go to Julie, who ID'd this scene,
as well as the original location (of Miguel's body).

Q.
How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. Originally,
I thought that this scene was probably shot at El Dorado Park, since Dexter
had filmed there before on more than one occasion. I assumed it would
be on the shore of one of the upper lakes at El Dorado.

But
the more I looked for the exact spot, and failed to pinpoint it, the more
I became convinced that it probably wasn't shot at El Dorado after
all.

Fortunately,
a fan came to my rescue. Julie, who lives near the park in Long Beach,
spotted the filming activity at the Lagoon on her way to work, and learned
that they were filming the season finale of Dexter. She was kind
enough to drop me an email and let me know. ( Thanks,
Julie! )